nourishing your body and mind

AVOID THESE INGREDIENTS IN VITAMINS & BEAUTY PRODUCTS

The things that go into and onto our bodies have a huge influence on our health. Although, a lot of the products on the market say they are healthy, they are actually packing a lot of nasty chemicals that can actually really mess our bodies up long term. Moreover, companies also like to highlight that their product contains a super healthy ingredient —eg, coconut oil or charcoal, however after investigating the label, it is clear to see that the super healthy ingredient makes up only a small amount of the product, and the rest is made of the same old nasty stuff found in a product that is probably much cheaper.

Example:

The way to identify a good product is to check if they DO NOT HAVE most of the below ingredients ( print the list off and keep it with you in your purse/wallet so when you go shopping you can refer back to it):

Vitamins and Supplements/ things you ingest:

Magnesium Stearate*

Anything that ends with Stearate*

Stearic Acid

Silicon Dioxide*

Carnuba wax*

Methylcellulose

Beauty products/ external products:

Parabens*

Sodium Lauryl Ether Sulfate (SLES) / Sodium laureth sulfate (SLS)

Fragrances (any type of chemical smell but natural )

Propylene Glycol*

Anything that ends with Glycol*

Titanium Dioxide

Mineral Oil

Silicone*

Phthalates

Sodium Benzoate

Any ingredient that ends with Benzoate

Anything that starts with Benzyl

*These are the most harmful ones and you should try your hardest to avoid them. The rest are certainly not great either so do be wary of them too! There are many more nasty ingredients but the ones I’ve listed are the main ones.

Fortunately, there are good products on the market that do a good job. Obviously, the more clean and natural, the more expensive they are so it is about being realistic and finding a brand that is as clean, contains as little of the ingredients stated below, and is in your price range.One brand is Sukin skincare which I use everyday (you can get it for much cheaper in TK Maxx) as it is absent of the most toxic ingredients listed below, and contains very little of the other slightly less toxic ingredients.

The reason why the above chemicals are bad is because they are toxic, disturb the body’s metabolic pathways, and ultimately contribute to illness and disease. There is no point of trying to take a supplement that contains something beneficial alongside a toxic chemical: not only is the chemical blocking the beneficial properties the good ingredient but it is also leaving the body in a worse state than before you had it. Yes, short term, you might feel/look better but long term exposure to a lot of chemicals can leave you worse off.

Lastly, there is an app called Think Dirty that allows you to scan the bar code of your product and calculates how ‘dirty’ it is, AKA how many nasty chemicals it has. It is still relatively new so it doesn’t have everything but I like the app because it of its other feature: it has lots of great clean/nasty chemicals free product recommendations!